Investments in early stage companies are also down because venture capitalists are focused on later stage companies they would like to take public but can't because the public markets are shut down, according to two separate reports by Dow Jones VentureSource and MoneyTree.

This signaled what some said might be a permanent shift in the types of companies attracting time and money from these investors, said the San Francisco Chronicle, which published the reports.

"We're continuing to see a lot of companies that should be out of the nest by now," said Mark Heeson, president of the National Venture Capital Association, which contributes to the MoneyTree report.

"Time is a problem for venture capitalists, so less time and money is going to new entrepreneurs and new ideas."

All venture capital investments are expected to be down for several more quarters, according to Tracy Lefteroff, global managing partner of the venture capital practice at Pricewaterhouse Coopers.

Given uncertainty in the economy, the confidence of venture capitalists in the third quarter fell to its lowest level ever, according to a recent survey by Professor Mark Cannice at the University of San Francisco. Cannice has conducted the survey since the first quarter of 2004.

Cutbacks at startups also continue, following stern warnings earlier this month by several venture capital firms and other investors to their portfolio companies to get serious and cut costs, according to the Chronicle.

Many of the startups cutting expenses and laying off employees are Internet companies, the paper said, adding that the crunch has also hit some of the best capitalized companies in the Silicon Valley.